An Architecture of Transparency for Ourselves and Our Organizations

Nowadays, there is a lot of talk about creating “sustainable” organizations, meaning those that produce value—not only financially (the old way of thinking) but also environmentally, ethically, socially, and so on. But how often do we talk about creating organizations that are productive from the perspective of human capital—in which people not only feel safe to say difficult things but also are encouraged and rewarded for doing so? When people are free to contribute their fullest, they are not only more engaged and productive, but also contribute to every other form of organizational sustainability.

This kind of integrated sustainability is achievable through a commitment to transparency, which facilitates the kind of information sharing and collaboration that promotes rapid advancement.

In our personal lives, we are opening up and building lives of increasing trust and transparency. Some would say that those of us who are “revealing” ourselves online in blogs, tweets, social networks, and so forth are foolhardy. There are cyber criminals, identity thieves, and other predators out there. The chorus is “it’s a dangerous world out there!” And it surely is.

So the point is not to give away the proverbial “kitchen sink” to psychopaths or adversaries, but to sensibly and discreetly share and collaborate.

The Internet has changed us like almost nothing else in history has. We have opened up to others—and often to complete strangers online—in ways we never would’ve imagined we would or could. We link in and friend people in social media, reach out with posts and remarks, seek help and give assistance online, and communicate and collaborate online. And much of this is happening in “virtual” blindness to who is on the screen and keyboard at the other end. What’s more, it seems, in many ways, like the most natural thing in the world to do this.

Now, with this new sense and exhibition of trust and transparency, we are starting to realize the true meaning and benefits of globalization. We are one people, regardless of gender, race, religion—all we need to do is reach out and there is someone else reaching back!

Trust and transparency may be foolhardy when we get burned, as happens in many a bad relationship, but that usually doesn’t stop us from trying again and again. At our essence, we are social creatures.

We have long known that as individuals we are limited by our own foibles and weaknesses, but with others we are stronger, there is synergy, and we are able to leverage off each other’s strengths and accomplish great things together. Anyone who has been blessed with a genuine partner or significant other in his or her life knows the power of this amazing coming together. My father used to say, “With one’s love, the joy is twice the joy and sadness is half the sadness.”

Now we are realizing that we are not only “more” as people with those immediately around us, but we can also grow, learn, and be strengthened by connecting with people all over the world.

Of course, it’s a different connection—but communication and working together is still a powerful force. We do not need to look far for examples, whether it’s Wikipedia or open source software, we are developing great and amazing new things by breaking old taboos.

Social media is showing great potential for helping organizations overcome their innate fear of transparency. It is moving rapidly and decisively throughout the ranks as companies and agencies now have Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, putting up videos on YouTube and photos on Flickr. Executives are blogging, and stakeholders are talking back. We are opening up as people, organizations, and as a society.

Cloud computing is another area where we can open up our individualistic information technology architectures and instead share resources—applications, storage, infrastructure—with tens, hundreds, and thousands of other customers, through IT cloud vendors such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, IBM, and more.

The future is going to be truly amazing if we can only have the courage to open up and share and, at the same time, have the wisdom to build in enough security that the few bad apples don’t spoil the pot for everyone else.

by Andy Blumenthal, founder of User-centric Enterprise Architecture, and chief technology officer at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He blogs at  http://usercentricea.blogspot.com and http://totalcio.blogspot.com. Blumenthal notes that “these are my personal views and do not represent those of my agency.”